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Monday, February 11, 2013

A FRIEND'S FAITHFUL PRAYER

After
writing my novel Paint Chips, I asked a few friends
to pray that it would find a publishing home. My debut novel had an edge that I
knew might be difficult to place.

My
friends prayed. I submitted query letters. We waited. After a short time, the
rejection letters came. It wasn't right for the Christian market. There was no
audience. A similar novel had recently been published.

I
wanted to give up. Write a second novel and try again. Write this one off as a
learning experience.

"God's
going to find just the right publisher for that book," Hedy said. "I
pray for that every day."

Hedy
was in my Bible study. She was the kind of faithful matriarch who is up before
the sun to pray over her friends and family. And she remembers every single
item on her list. If nothing else ever went well for Paint
Chips, at least Hedy prayed for it.

I
surrendered the novel. Told God to do as He pleased with it. Stopped fretting
over it. A week later, Dina Sleiman (acquisitions editor from WhiteFire
Publishing) made contact. She asked for the opportunity to read my novel. A few
months later, I signed a book contract. Now, less than a year
later, Paint Chips is available for digital readers
and the paperback releases in April.

One
of my favorite things? Telling Hedy that God had found a publisher. And just
the right one. I expected her to be surprised. To clap her hands and squeal a
little.

"Well,
honey," she said, as calm as could be. "I knew He would."

Such
confidence in prayer. Such a beautiful thing.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSMoQbBS6D4]

Susie
Finkbeineris the writer of fiction, both short and long. Her deepest desire is
that her fiction reflects the love of Jesus in a broken world. She and her
husband are raising their three children in the beauty of Michigan.

You
can download Paint Chips from the following
booksellers for only $3.99.